Cultural diplomacy underlies the exceptional works included in this year's international music festival. Performed in monumental spaces such as the national museum, the concerts, which have a strong East-West flavour, will reach out to everyone, Claire Low writes.

APDS Blogger: Emina Vukic

In the post-Soviet age, Russia has relied on military muscle and energy dominance to help it achieve its foreign policy goals. Soft power, meanwhile, is something that has always been missing from Moscow’s diplomatic arsenal.

In general, China made innovations in diplomatic theory and practice with a view to making ever greater contributions to the development of China’s economy and society. It effectively addressed foreign-related sensitive issues and emergencies...

To make “invalid, illegal, or unacceptable.” That’s the simple definition of delegitimization, and everybody agrees on it...almost nobody agrees on what constitutes a bona fide attempt to delegitimize Israel, nor on how Israel should combat those efforts.

The first major international conference on public diplomacy and China’s reputation in the world will take place in Beijing later this month. The event is co-sponsored by the Charhar Institute, China’s foremost public diplomacy think tank, the Clingendael Institute of the Netherlands...

During the Cold War, cultural diplomacy was a priority of U.S. foreign policy as a means of cultivating relationships with nations around the world through positive exchange. Since that time, there has been a marked decline in cultural diplomacy.

Should one be surprised to hear the Ambassador of the United States telling an audience of students and influential Abu Dhabi elite that his country needed to raise its game and change their narrative in the region?...he remarked that people in the Gulf thought of the USA in military terms.